A versatile and award-winning conductor, violinist, and producer, Ms. Olivia Tsui distinguished herself as the first woman, sole Asian, and youngest music director in the 86-year history of the Emmy Award-winning Glendale Symphony Orchestra. The Los Angeles Times praises her performance as "outstanding... with brilliant virtuosity", in addition to the Daily Astorian saying “Ms. Tsui should be a featured conductor for any music festival in the country”, and the Oregon Music News noting her performance has a strong “focus on smooth ensemble work and superb dynamics”.

 

Since appearing as both conductor and soloist in 1997 with the International Chamber Orchestra in Beverly Hills California, Ms. Tsui has conducted worldwide both symphonic and operatic repertoire. She has led the famed Sofia Philharmonic, the Congress Orchestra of St.Petersburg Philharmonic Society of Russia, the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, Slovakia State Philharmonic, and the Stara Zagora State Opera House in Bulgaria, among others.

 

Equally in demand domestically, Ms. Tsui has been a frequent guest conductor for the Bel Canto Opera Festival in Oregon, the Naples Philharmonic in Florida, the Rio Hondo Symphony Orchestra and the Valley Symphony in Los Angeles. She has been the Resident Conductor of the Astoria Music Festival in Oregon from 2010 to 2020 where she worked with up-and-coming young singers from all over the U.S. to put together a fully staged opera within three weeks for every summer.

 

Born in Shanghai, China, Ms. Tsui was trained as a concert violinist singe the age of four and  she had the opportunities in many cities in China. After arriving in the United States, she continued her studies and earned multiple advanced musician degrees. Ms. Tsui’ s passion for conducting led her to be the under tutelage of Jorma Panula, the foremost pedagogue of the conducting world, and also the distinguished teacher Jorge Mester. She also has studied at the Conducting Institute at Bard, New York, and has received a certificate with honor from the Advanced Conducting Academy after Ilia Musin in St. Petersburg, Russia. Besides traditional symphonic and operatic repertoire, Ms. Tsui has acquired many aspects of music style through her professional training and experiences. Active on the international stage and in major Hollywood motion picture recording studios, Ms. Tsui has collaborated with luminaries from the classical world to the pop scene, such as Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Barbara Streisand, Willie Nelson, Michael Jackson, and Madonna. After 30 years as a tenured member of both the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Los Angeles Opera, she not only has become very fluent in Opera and Ballet music, but acquainted herself with modern music, such as movie soundtracks, Broadway shows, and some jazz, pop, and ethnic music as well.

 

Ms. Tsui is the Founder and Artistic Director of Los Angeles Virtuosi Association, established in 2005. Under LAVA’s umbrella, many innovative projects have been created, such as “Magical Journey through Music and Digital Arts” – a collaboration of music and digital art created live on stage with Oscar Award-winning visual artist J-Walt. The project reached out to an audience with a vast spectrum of ages and backgrounds, garnering critical acclaim.

 

An inspiring educator and fervent advocate of the arts, Ms. Tsui has judged the Southern California Young Musicians Foundation Competition for 12 consecutive years, working diligently in her community to bring classical music to new generations. Her own arrangement of Mozart’s piano piece “Ah! vous dirai-Je, maman!” and a Christmas Medley for string quintet have been performed in over 120 concerts in different schools throughout Southern California.

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In March 2015, Ms. Tsui co-founded two new groups, the Silicon Beach Philharmonic & Chorale, and the Silicon Beach Youth Orchestra. The organization received a Certificate of Appreciation by the City of Los Angeles for its active community engagement bringing music and arts to younger generations and the broader public.

 

Currently, Ms. Tsui is working on multiple creative projects including a cultural exchange concert tour to China, two musicals depicting the first Chinese American aviators, reviving the only operetta John Philip Sousa had written - El Capitan, and also an opera integrating state of art high-tech augmented and virtual reality.  For more info, please visit: https://www.artsplenum.com/